One of our nooker friends was wondering about the ice mint cream, so I thought I would write a review.
As most of you know, Arko is one of the oldest and most famous shaving brands to emerge from Turkey. Arko shaving stick is a widely known and respected product (smell causes a controversy, though). Arko ice mint SC is a relatively new product, and like all arko products it is sold very cheap in Turkey (nearly 1 euro).

The ingredients are:

I have tried ice mint SC for 3-4 testing lathers and 2 shaves, one face lather w/badger, the other bowl lather w/boar. Both shaves were eventless, smooth and comfortable. Arko ice mint makes lots and lots of dense, moist lather that is easily enough for 4-5 pass shaves.

Dense lather with ice mint SC

Waited over a minute, the lather is almost the same

When you rub fingers, a thin protective layer is still present.

As you can tell from the pictures Arko ice mint is a good performer. The smell is a strong mint, that is too much for me. The menthol effect lasts for almost 15 minutes, which may be nice and refreshing in hot summer mornings. As a personal preference, I do not like that much of a mint burst. Clean and subtle fragrances are my choices of SC smells.

As a conclusion, ice mint is a solid performer with quality lather and a strong minty smell. If you are a fan of mentholated smells like proraso, I advise you to try ice mint SC.

Thanks, Burak. Do you know if the Ice Mint has similar qualities (or is the same thing) as Arko Cool? I have a tube of Cool and it's performance seems consistent with your comments. Definitely a menthol blast as well which is a nice change every so often, especially when the Texas summer sets in!

(04-15-2012, 07:56 AM)texbilly Wrote: Thanks, Burak. Do you know if the Ice Mint has similar qualities (or is the same thing) as Arko Cool? I have a tube of Cool and it's performance seems consistent with your comments. Definitely a menthol blast as well which is a nice chance every so often, especially when the Texas summer sets in!

You're welcome, Billy. It is not same as Arko Cool. Performance-wise they may be identical, but the menthol blast of Arko Ice Mint AT LEAST doubles that of Arko Cool. My face almost tingled 10-15 minutes. I prefer Arko cool, but that's me. Antalya summer is no different than Texas, so Ice mint is my reserve for hot and moist days.

(04-15-2012, 07:56 AM)texbilly Wrote: Thanks, Burak. Do you know if the Ice Mint has similar qualities (or is the same thing) as Arko Cool? I have a tube of Cool and it's performance seems consistent with your comments. Definitely a menthol blast as well which is a nice chance every so often, especially when the Texas summer sets in!

You're welcome, Billy. It is not same as Arko Cool. Performance-wise they may be identical, but the menthol blast of Arko Ice Mint AT LEAST doubles that of Arko Cool. My face almost tingled 10-15 minutes. I prefer Arko cool, but that's me. Antalya summer is no different than Texas, so Ice mint is my reserve for hot and moist days.

WoW! Double the blast? Well Burak, follow up your shave with say Alt Innsbruk AS and you'll be in tingly heaven!! Thanks for the feedback.

(04-15-2012, 07:56 AM)texbilly Wrote: Thanks, Burak. Do you know if the Ice Mint has similar qualities (or is the same thing) as Arko Cool? I have a tube of Cool and it's performance seems consistent with your comments. Definitely a menthol blast as well which is a nice chance every so often, especially when the Texas summer sets in!

You're welcome, Billy. It is not same as Arko Cool. Performance-wise they may be identical, but the menthol blast of Arko Ice Mint AT LEAST doubles that of Arko Cool. My face almost tingled 10-15 minutes. I prefer Arko cool, but that's me. Antalya summer is no different than Texas, so Ice mint is my reserve for hot and moist days.

WoW! Double the blast? Well Burak, follow up your shave with say Alt Innsbruk AS and you'll be in tingly heaven!! Thanks for the feedback.

Gentlemen, if I'm correctly remembering, the Arko Cool has absolutely no menthol in it whatsoever. I think you might be referring to the Arko Moist version. That cream has a small - in fact, a VERY small amount of menthol in it.